1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wheel balance weight attached to a wheel of an automobile.
2. Related Art
In a wheel assembly in which a tire of an automobile and the like is assembled into a rim of a wheel, if an unbalance of the wheel assembly in a circumferential direction around a rotating shaft or in an axial direction becomes larger, various defects such as a vibration or a noise will be generated in running of the automobile. These vibration and noise are resulted from the unbalance of the wheel, and a wheel balance weight is attached to the wheel to remove the unbalance.
A conventional wheel balance weight is comprised of a weight body made of a lead or a lead alloy and has a predetermined weight, and a clip for fixing the weight body to the wheel. The weight body and the clip are integrally formed by a casting. The lead or lead alloy constituting the weight body is selected due to a large specific gravity thereof and a soft, adaptable character thereof to a curved surface of the wheel. However, since the material containing the lead has a problem in an influence to a natural environment, the wheel balance weight which has the weight body made of an iron or an alloy of iron has been developed. Concretely, the wheel balance weight comprised of the weight body made of the iron or the iron alloy, and an engaging member made of a steel plate and bent so that one end portion thereof is fixed to the weight body and other end thereof is bent to nip a periphery of a rim portion of the wheel therein.
As the conventional wheel balance weight, Japanese U.M. No.3046046 discloses a wheel balance weight comprised of a weight body made of a cast iron, and an engaging member made of a steel plate bent and fixed to the weight body by a rivet. On the other hand, Japanese U.M. Laid-open (Koukai) No.62-70001 discloses a wheel balance weight comprised of a weight body having a recessed groove on a bottom surface on which a protruded portion is formed, and an engaging member having a through-hole at one end thereof to be fixed to the weight body. The engaging member is fixed to the weight body by penetrating the protruded portion through the through-hole and caulking a head or top portion of the protruded portion over the engaging portion.
However, the wheel balance weight disclosed in Japanese U.M. No.3046046 has an disadvantage that the numbers of parts and a manufacturing cost of the wheel balance weight increase, since the engaging member is fixed to the weight body by riveting. On the other hand, the wheel balance weight disclosed in Japanese U.M. Laid-open No.62-70001 has an disadvantage that the fixing of the engaging member to the weight body is not sufficient, since only a top of the protruded portion is engaged with a periphery of the through-hole. Also, the manufacturing cost of the weight body increases due to of the protruded portion formed within the recessed groove.